Animal fats and oils prices started the month stable to lower on Thursday August 1, with several markets continuing to trade under downward pressure from a wide spread to soybean oil.

Tallow in the Chicago market traded lower on the day, with packer-grade bleachable fancy tallow (BFT) assessed 2.5 cents per lb lower on a five-car trade done at 48.5 cents per lb.

Technical tallow was down 1 cent per lb on the day at 54 cents per lb, based on a trade heard done at that level.

Market sources attributed the decline in pricing to current weakness in soybean oil, which is a substitute for animal fats and oils in many downstream sectors such as biodiesel.

In Chicago, the August soybean oil contract settled at 42.27 cents per lb on Thursday, down by 79 basis points per lb from a close of 43.30 cents per lb on Wednesday July 31.

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